Mime
Mime is a skilled computer hacker and researcher who originally appeared in Mount Dragon. He has been on a special retainer with Special Agent Pendergast dating prior to the events of Still Life with Crows. Mime is particularly skilled at breaking into electronic systems and records to find people or locate sensitive information. Appearance and Mannerisms Mime is confined to a wheelchair and physically deformed as a result of Thalidomide poisoning while in the womb. He rarely if ever leaves his home and prefers to dress comfortably in pajamas and bathrobe. He enjoys eating Twinkies. Mime resides in the fictional Cleveland suburb of River Pointe, Ohio, inhabiting a white clapboard house full of computers and extensive networking equipment. A state-of-the-art security system (provided by Pendergast) protects the property, and a candle burns in perpetuity in an attic window. In addition to his own sizeable collection of equipment, he has control over a botnet of infected computers that he can use to perform computationally-intensive tasks in a relatively short period of time. He often refers to Pendergast as "Secret Agent Man", a reference to the song by Johnny Rivers. Involvement Mime was first introduced during the events of Mount Dragon, helping Dr. Charles Levine hack into the GeneDyne network and allowing him to communicate with Guy Carson. Mime made a brief appearance in Still Life with Crows, helping Pendergast procure a seismic exploration survey from the vault of the ABX Corporation by providing a Cayman Islands account number, which Pendergast used to blackmail the corporation's CEO. Following Pendergast's request to go to ground in response to attacks on his close associates in Dance of Death, Mime was seen shutting down his banks of computer equipment and enabling his external security system for the first time. In Cold Vengeance, Pendergast visited Mime at his home in River Pointe, Ohio. He managed to bypass the security system, confounding Mime until Pendergast reminded him that he had the system installed (and presumably had access to some kind of "back door" or override mechanism). He asked for Mime's help investigating the whereabouts of his wife, Helen Esterhazy Pendergast. Mime's botnet searched the farthest corners of the internet but turned up no information about Helen's activities after her supposed death in Africa twelve years before. He did turn up one useful piece of information, a report card that reveals that Helen immigrated to America at a young age and that her native language was Portuguese. Pendergast also had Mime hack into the records system of the University of Texas and amend the record of one John Galusha to show that he graduated with honors. Later, Pendergast contacted Mime again and asks for his help tracking down an object called "Vergeltung". The object in question turned out to be a yacht, which Mime located at the 79th Street Marina in New York City. Mime again assisted Pendergast in locating Helen following her abduction by Der Bund, eventually tracking them to the small desert Mexican town of Cananea. After the events of Two Graves, Mime began monitoring internet traffic for any traces of Alban at Pendergast's request. He later helped Pendergast track down the reclusive descendant of a local man named Swinton, who according to legend had once told Oscar Wilde a story that had caused the author to go deathly pale and almost faint. Pendergast enlisted Mime's help early in Blue Labyrinth to remove DNA records related to the Hotel Killer from the NYPD database in an effort to keep the NYPD from connecting the Hotel Killer to Alban. When Pendergast found Proctor missing from the Riverside Drive mansion, he called upon Mime to locate him. The hacker managed to track Proctor's movements from New York across five countries and three continents before losing him. He was able to confirm to Pendergast that his factotum was almost certainly alive, as his death would have certainly shown up in Mime's wide-reaching net. He requested (and was promised) a federal-issue cellular duplexer as payment for his services, assuring Pendergast with a wink and a nod that it would only be used to assist law enforcement officials. Category:Characters Category:Minor Characters Category:Pendergast Family Employees Category:Cold Vengeance Category:Recurring Characters